Image-forming system, control method therefor, image-forming apparatus, data processing method, and storage medium

ABSTRACT

In an image-forming apparatus such as a digital copying apparatus, even when a digital copying apparatus having print data desired by a user is used by someone else or is in trouble, the apparatus outputs the print data desired by the user without any delay at any time convenient to the user and in an output form the user desires, and thus increases availability thereof. The digital copying apparatus includes an network interface communicating with an external host apparatus, and a memory for storing image data and operation mode data received through the network interface, and prints out the image data on a printer section. The digital copying apparatus receives image data and operation mode data from the other digital copying apparatus and prints out the image data on the printer section thereof.

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 09/726,403 filedDec. 1, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,130,069.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an image-forming system including animage-forming apparatus that communicates with other apparatuses fordata exchange.

2. Description of the Related Art

There are conventionally known image-forming apparatuses such as adigital copying apparatus having an electronic sorting function. Such adigital copying apparatus reads the image of all original documents tobe copied, stores the image data in a memory such as a hard disk, andthen retrieves the image data of any desired original document from thememory to print the image out. Without the need for a sorting devicehaving a plurality of bins, the copying apparatus discharges copiedsheets in a sorted state.

In a known electronic sorting function for PDL (Page DescriptionLanguage) images, the digital copying apparatus receives application PDLdata from a host computer through a network, develops the PDL data intoa bit-map image, stores the bit-map image in a memory such as a harddisk, repeatedly reads an image from the memory to print the image, andsorts the copied sheets.

In one proposed system, the hard disk of a digital copying apparatus maybe divided into users' personal areas, and the bit-map image developedfrom PDL data is once stored in a user's own area (personal box). Toprint an image from the personal box, a user enters a password to accesshis or her area from a control panel of the copying apparatus. Such asystem is useful when the user wants to print data which requiressecrecy.

A user operates a control panel on a digital copying apparatus to printout an image after transmitting image data to a personal box in thedigital copying apparatus from a host computer in such a system. Ifsomeone else then uses the copying apparatus for copying, the user isforced to wait for the end of the copying operation. If the copyingapparatus fails to properly work for lack of toner or paper sheets orany other troubles, printing cannot be performed until the copyingapparatus is restored for normal operation. It is preferred that desiredprint data be output at any time convenient to the user and with anoutput form the user desires, regardless of the status of the copyingapparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an image-formingsystem free from the above problem, a control method for theimage-forming system, an image-forming apparatus, a data processingmethod, and a storage medium.

It is another object of the present invention to provide animage-forming system that outputs data desired by a user without anydelay at any time convenient to the user and in an output form the userdesires, and increases availability thereof, even when the apparatusstoring print data of the user is used by someone else or has a problem,and to provide a control method for the image-forming system, animage-forming apparatus, a data processing method, and a storage medium.

In one aspect, an image-forming system of the present invention includesa plurality of image-forming apparatuses with printer sections, eachimage-forming apparatus including a network communication unit and astorage unit for storing image data and operation mode data receivedthrough the network communication unit, a data acquisition unit throughwhich a first image-forming apparatus acquires, through the networkcommunication unit, the image data and the operation mode data stored inanother image-forming apparatus, and an operation mode update unit forautomatically updating the operation mode of the first image-formingapparatus to an operation mode in accordance with the acquired operationmode data.

In another aspect, an image-forming system of the present inventionincludes a plurality of image-forming apparatuses with printer sections,each image-forming apparatus including a network communication unit anda storage unit for storing image data and operation mode data receivedthrough the network communication unit, a data acquisition unit throughwhich a first image-forming apparatus acquires, through the networkcommunication unit, the image data and the operation mode data stored inanother image-forming apparatus, and an operation mode update unit forupdating the operation mode of the first image-forming apparatus to anoperation mode in accordance with the acquired operation mode data inresponse to a command from a control panel.

In yet another aspect, an image-forming apparatus of the presentinvention communicates data, via a data communication medium, with aremote image-forming apparatus storing a series of image data to beprinted. The image-forming apparatus includes a transmitter unit fortransmitting, to the remote image-forming apparatus via the datacommunication medium, first instruction data requesting that the remoteimage-forming apparatus transmit image data stored therein, and anacquisition unit for acquiring, via the data communication medium, datawhich is output by the remote image-forming apparatus in response to thefirst instruction data, and which includes operation mode data presetagainst the stored series of image data to be printed in the remoteimage-forming apparatus.

In yet another aspect, a control method of the present inventioncontrols an image-forming system including a plurality of image-formingapparatuses with printer sections, each image-forming apparatusincluding a network communication unit and a storage unit for storingimage data and operation mode data received through the networkcommunication unit. The control method includes an acquisition step ofacquiring, for a first image-forming apparatus, the image data and theoperation mode data stored in another image-forming apparatus throughthe network communication unit, and an updating step of automaticallyupdating the operation mode of the first image-forming apparatus to anoperation mode in accordance with the acquired operation mode data.

In yet another aspect, a computer-readable storage medium of the presentinvention stores a software program to be executed by an image-formingsystem that includes a plurality of image-forming apparatuses withprinter sections, each image-forming apparatus including a networkcommunication unit and a storage unit for storing image data andoperation mode data received through the network communication unit. Thesoftware program includes program codes for an acquisition step ofacquiring, for a first image-forming apparatus, the image data and theoperation mode data stored in another image-forming apparatus throughthe network communication unit, and an updating step of automaticallyupdating the operation mode of the first image-forming apparatus to anoperation mode in accordance with the acquired operation mode data.

In yet another aspect, a data processing method of the present inventionincludes a transmitting step of transmitting, to a remote image-formingapparatus storing a series of image data to be printed, via a datacommunication medium, first instruction data requesting that the remoteimage-forming apparatus transmit image data stored therein, and anacquisition step of acquiring, via the data communication medium, datawhich is output by the remote image-forming apparatus in response to thefirst instruction data, and which includes operation mode data presetagainst the stored series of image data to be printed in the remoteimage-forming apparatus.

In yet another aspect, a computer-readable storage medium of the presentinvention stores a software program, which includes program codes for atransmitting step of transmitting, to a remote image-forming apparatusstoring a series of image data to be printed, via a data communicationmedium, first instruction data requesting that the remote image-formingapparatus transmit image data stored therein, and an acquisition step ofacquiring, via the data communication medium, data which is output bythe remote image-forming apparatus in response to the first instructiondata, and which includes operation mode data preset against the storedseries of image data to be printed in the remote image-formingapparatus.

Further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention willbe apparent from the following description of the preferred embodimentswith reference to the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the construction of an image-formingapparatus of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the internal construction of theimage-forming apparatus of the above embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the construction of a reader section;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the construction of a core section;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the construction of an imageprocessor;

FIG. 6 show a standard screen of a liquid-crystal display panel of acontrol panel;

FIG. 7 shows a screen of the control panel for selecting anotherimage-forming apparatus;

FIG. 8 shows a screen of the control panel showing a destination list;

FIG. 9 diagrammatically shows a personal box;

FIG. 10 shows a window for designating personal boxes;

FIG. 11 shows a personal box window;

FIG. 12 shows a personal box main screen;

FIG. 13 shows a password input screen of the control panel;

FIG. 14 shows a job display screen of the control panel;

FIG. 15 shows a setting screen of the control panel for printing outdocument image data of the other apparatus;

FIG. 16 shows a display screen of a personal box in another apparatusthat the user monitors through his own apparatus;

FIG. 17 is a flow diagram showing the operation of a first embodiment;

FIG. 18 shows a screen of a control panel of a second embodiment; and

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram showing the operation of the secondembodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments of the present invention are now discussed, withreference to the drawings.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the construction of an image-formingapparatus 1000 of a first embodiment of the present invention. Theimage-forming apparatus 1000 is a digital copying apparatus having anetwork communication function and an electronic sorting function.

A reader section 1 reads the image from an original document, andoutputs the data of the image to a printer section 2 and an imageinput/output controller 3. The printer section 2 prints out the imagecorresponding to the image data from the reader section 1 and the imageinput/output controller 3. The image input/output controller 3,connected to the reader section 1, is composed of a facsimile section 4,a file section 5, a network interface 7, a LIPS (LBP (laser beamprinter) image processing system) formatter 8, which is one type of PDL,a PS (PostScript) formatter 9, which is another type of PDL, and a coresection 10.

The facsimile section 4 decompresses compressed image data receivedthrough a telephone line, transfers the decompressed image data to thecore section 10, or compresses image data coming from the core section10, and transmits the compressed image data over the telephone line. Thefile section 5 is connected to a magnetooptical disk drive unit 6. Thefile section 5 compresses image data transferred from the core section10, and stores, in a magnetooptical disk loaded in the magnetoopticaldisk drive unit 6, the compressed image data along with a keyword bywhich the image data is searched. The file section 5 searches for thecompressed image data stored in the magnetooptical disk in response tothe keyword transferred via the core section 10, reads and decompressesthe searched compressed image data, and transfers the decompressed imagedata to the core section 10.

The network interface 7 serves as an interface between a personalcomputer or a workstation (hereinafter referred to as PC/WC) 11 and thecore section 10. The network interface 7 also serves as an interfacebetween an external apparatus, such as a digital copying apparatus 13,connected to a network, and the core section 10. (The digital copyingapparatus 13 has the same construction and the same functions as thoseof the image-forming apparatus 1000). Through the network interface 7,the image-forming apparatus 1000 receives a PDL image from a hostapparatus, in the first embodiment, and reads an original document imagefrom the hard disk in another digital copying apparatus. Theimage-forming apparatus 1000 connects to another image-forming apparatusas a digital copying apparatus 13 in the first embodiment.Alternatively, the image-forming apparatus 1000 may connect to aplurality of image-forming apparatuses via a network. The image-formingapparatus 1000 thus exchanges data with each of the plurality of theimage-forming apparatuses.

A network server 12 is a core of network control. Formatters 8 and 9develops PDL data transferred from the PC/WS 11 into image data that isrecordable by the printer section 2. As will be discussed more in detaillater, the core section 10 controls signal flow between the readersection 1, the facsimile section 4, the file section 5, the networkinterface 7, and the formatters 8 and 9.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the internal construction of theimage-forming apparatus 1000. The image-forming apparatus 1000 includesan apparatus body 100 of the copying apparatus, and a recycling documentfeeder (RDF) 189. Referring to FIG. 1, the reader section 1 correspondsto components designated 101 through 109 arranged in the upper portionof the apparatus body 100 as shown in FIG. 2, and the printer section 2corresponds to components designated 110 through 163 internally arrangedin the apparatus body 100 as shown in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 2, there are shown a glass platen 101 serving adocument support surface, a scanner 102, a document illumination lamp103, a scanning mirror 104, etc. The scanner 102 is reciprocally movedin a predetermined direction by a motor (unshown), and a light beam 107reflected from an original document is reflected off scanning mirrors104–106, transmitted through a lens 108, and then focused on a CCD 109as an image sensor.

An exposure control unit 120 includes a laser, a polygon scanner, etc.,and illuminates a photoconductive drum 110 with a laser light beam 129which has been modulated with an image signal on which a predeterminedprocess is performed, as will be discussed later. The image signal is anelectrical signal, which the CCD image sensor 109 converted from thelight beam reflected from the original document.

Arranged around the photoconductive drum 110 are a primary charging unit112, a development unit 121, a transfer charging unit 118, a cleaningunit 116, and a pre-exposure lamp 114. In an image-forming section 126,the photoconductive drum 110 is rotated by a motor (not shown) in adirection represented by an arrow and is charged to a desired potentialby the primary charging unit 112, and is then irradiated with the laserlight beam 129 from the exposure control unit 120. An electrostaticlatent image is thus formed on the photoconductive drum 110. Theelectrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductive drum 110 isthen developed by the development unit 121, thus becoming a visibletoner image.

A copy sheet, picked up from an upper cassette 131 or a lower cassette132 by pickup rollers 133 and 134, is sent to an upper portion of theapparatus by feed rollers 135 and 136, and fed to the transfer belt by atiming roller 137. The visible toner image is then transferred to thecopy sheet by the transfer charging unit 118. Subsequent to thetransfer, the cleaning unit 116 cleans residual toner from thephotoconductive drum 110, and the pre-exposure lamp 114 removes residualcharge from the photoconductive drum 110.

Subsequent to the transfer, the copy sheet is detached from the transferbelt 130, and the toner image is again charged by pre-fixing chargingunits 139 and 140. The copy sheet is then moved to a fixing unit 141,where the toner image is fixed onto the copy sheet by pressure and heat.The copy sheet is then discharged by a discharge roller 142 out of theapparatus 100.

An attractive charging unit 119 causes the transfer belt 130 to attractthe copy sheet moved by the timing roller 137. A transfer roller (notshown) in combination with the attractive charging unit 119 helps thetransfer belt 130 to attract the copy sheet by charge.

The apparatus body 100 includes a deck 150 that can accommodate 4000copy sheets. A lifter 151 of the deck 150 rises in response to thequantity of copy sheets so that a feed roller 152 always remains incontact with a copy sheet. The apparatus 100 also includes a manualinsertion feeder 153 that can accommodate 100 copy sheets.

Referring to FIG. 2, a discharge flapper 154 switches the copy sheetpath between both-side recording or multiple recording and discharging.The copy sheet moved by the discharge roller 142 is sent to theboth-side recording path or the multiple recording path by the dischargeflapper 154. A multiple-recording flapper 157 switches between theboth-side recording and the multiple recording. With themultiple-recording flapper 157 inclined leftwardly, the copy sheet isdirectly guided to an underside transport path 158 without being routedvia an inverting path 155.

A feed roller 159 feeds the copy sheet to the photoconductive drum 110via a path 160. A discharge roller 161, arranged in the vicinity of thedischarge flapper 154, discharges the copy sheet that is switched to thedischarge side by the discharge flapper 154.

During both-side recording (both-side printing), a copy sheet with oneside finished is routed to the inverting path 155, with the dischargeflapper 154 raised upward, and the multiple-recording flapper 157inclined rightwardly. With the multiple-recording flapper 157 inclinedleftwardly, the copy sheet passes along the transport path 158 and isstored face down in a recycling paper tray 156. During multiplerecording (printing), the copy sheet partly finished is transportedalong the transport path 158 with the discharge flapper 154 raised andthe multiple-recording flapper 157 inclined leftwardly, and is thenstored in the recycling paper tray 156. The paper sheets placed in therecycling paper tray 156 are routed along the path 160 to the timingroller 137 of the apparatus 100 by the feed roller 159, one by one fromthe bottom sheet first.

When the copy sheet is discharged (face down) out of the apparatus 100,the discharge flapper 154 is raised, the flapper 157 is inclinedrightwardly, the copy sheet with one side finished is routed to theinverting path 155, moved to a second transport roller 162 a by aninverting roller 163 after the back edge of the copy sheet passes afirst transport roller 162, and then discharged face down by thedischarge roller 161.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the construction of the reader section1. An A/D-SH unit 210 analog-to-digital converts image data output by aCCD 209 while performing shading correction on the image data at thesame time. The image data processed by the A/D-SH unit 210 istransferred to the printer section 2 through an image processor 211,while being transferred to the core section 10 in the image input/outputcontroller 3 via an interface (I/F) 213.

A CPU 214 controls the image processor 211 and the interface 213 inaccordance with settings input from a control panel 500 on the apparatus100 shown in FIG. 2. For instance, when the control panel 500 sets acopy mode with trimming process enabled, the image data is sent to theprinter section 2 after the image processor 211 performs a trimmingprocess on the image data. When the control panel 500 sets a facsimiletransmission mode, the reader section 1 sends the image data and acontrol command in association with the set mode via the interface 213to the core section 10. The control program of the CPU 214 is stored ina memory 216, and the CPU 214 executes control referencing the memory216. The memory 216 also serves as a working area for the CPU 214.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the construction of the core section10. The reader section 1 sends the image data to a data processing unit321, and sends the control command to a CPU 323. The data processingunit 321 performs image processings, such as rotation and zoomingprocesses on the image data. The image data sent from the reader section1 to the data processing unit 321 is transferred to the facsimilesection 4, the file section 5, and the network interface 7 via aninterface 320 in response to the control command transferred from thereader section 1.

The code data, representing an image, coming in from the networkinterface 7 is transferred to the data processing unit 321 to determinewhether the PDL is LIPS or PostScript, and is then transferred to eitherthe LIPS formatter 8 or the PS formatter 9. The PDL data is thendeveloped into the image data. The image data is sent to the dataprocessing unit 321, and is then sent to the facsimile section 4 or theprinter section 2.

The image data from the facsimile section 4 is transferred to the dataprocessing unit 321, and is then transferred to the printer section 2,the file section 5, or the network interface 7. The image data from thefile section 5 is transferred to the data processing unit 321, and isthen transferred to the printer section 2, the facsimile section 4 orthe network interface 7.

The CPU 323 executes the above processes in accordance with the controlprograms stored in a memory 324 (including programs for performingprocesses illustrated in FIG. 17 and FIG. 19, as will be discussedlater) or the control command coming in from the reader section 1. Thememory 324 also serves as a working area for the CPU 323. The networkinterface 7 is equipped with a database called the MIB (ManagementInformation Base), and manages the printer section 2 by communicatingwith a computer on the network, using the SNMP (Simple NetworkManagement Protocol).

On a monitor of the image-forming apparatus 1000, on the display unitthereof, information in a personal box managed in another remote digitalcopying apparatus is displayed by communicating with the networkinterface 7 of the other remote digital copying apparatus through theTCP/IP protocol. Through the core section 10 of the other digitalcopying apparatus, the image-forming apparatus 1000 reads originaldocument image data and information associated with the image data inthe personal box in a hard disk 257 of an image memory 255, shown inFIG. 5, in the image processor 211 in the reader section 1 in the otherimage-forming apparatus. The image-forming apparatus 1000 receives theoriginal document image in the TCP/IP protocol via the core section 10and the network interface 7 of the other digital copying apparatus.

The image-forming apparatus 1000 receives the original document imagereceived from the other digital copying apparatus through the networkinterface 7, and transfers the original document image to its ownprinter section 2 through the core section 10 and the reader section 1to print it out.

In this way, the core section 10 plays a major role in performingcombined functions of the reading of the original document image, theprinting of the image, the transmission and reception of the image, thestorage of the image, and the data input to and output from thecomputer.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the construction of the imageprocessor 211 in detail.

The image, which has been analog-to-digital converted andshading-corrected by the A/D-SH unit 210, is input to the imageprocessor 211 as black luminance level data, and is sent to a logconverter 250. The log converter 250 stores a LUT (lookup table) forconverting the input luminance data into density data. The luminancedata is thus converted into the density data by referring to a tablevalue on the LUT corresponding to the input value.

The density data is sent to a binarizer 251. The binarizer 251 binarizesmulti-value density data, resulting in a density value of “0” or “255”.Since the 8-bit image data is thus converted into 1-bit data having avalue of “0” or “1”, the quantity of image data to be stored isdecreased.

However, if the image is binarized, the number of tonal gradations ofthe image is reduced from 256 to 2. A photograph having a number ofintermediate tonal gradations is substantially degraded. It is thereforenecessary to apply pseudo-tonal-gradations to binarized data. An errorspread method is used to express intermediate tonal gradations, inbinarized data. In this method, the image data is binarized so that thedensity data thereof is treated as “255” when the density of the imageis greater than a threshold, and is treated as “0” when the density ofthe image is not greater than the threshold. A difference between actualdensity data and the binarized data is handled as an error signal, whichis then spread among pixels surrounding a pixel of interest. Thedistribution of the error is performed by multiplying the error arisingfrom the binarization by predetermined weighting coefficients on amatrix of pixels, and by adding the multiplication result to the pixelsurrounding the pixel of interest. In this way, the average density ofthe entire image is preserved, and the pseudo-tonal-gradations are thusexpressed in binarized data.

The binarized image data is then sent to a control unit 252. The bit-mapimage data, resulting from the development of the PDL data from thecomputer, comes from the core section 10. The data is already developedinto the binarized image data, through the LIPS formatter 8 or the PSformatter 9, prior to the input thereof to the core section 10, and isdirectly sent to the control unit 252.

In response to an instruction from the apparatus 100, the control unit252 stores, in the image memory 255, the image of the document read bythe RDF or the document read from the glass platen, and processedthrough the A/D-SH unit 210 or the bit-map image into which the PDL datais developed through the interface 213. From the image memory 255, thecontrol unit 252 successively reads and outputs the image data.

The image memory 255 includes a SCSI (small computer systems interface)controller 256 and a hard disk (memory) 257, and writes the image dataon the hard disk 257 in response to an instruction from the SCSIcontroller 256. A plurality of pieces of image data stored in the harddisk 257 is printed out in the order specified in an edit mode input bythe control panel 500. For instance, when the PDL images coming in firstpage first are printed out in reverse order, and electronically sorted,all pages of the PDL bit-map images coming in from a host apparatus areonce stored in the hard disk 257, then read in the order of the lastpage to the first, and printed out. The electronic sorting is performedby repeating this operation a number of times as requested by the hostapparatus.

The image data, retrieved from the image memory 255 or not stored in theimage memory 255, is sent to a smoothing unit 253. The smoothing unit253 converts the 1-bit data into the 8-bit data, setting the image datato a “0” state or “255” state.

The converted image data is replaced with a weighted average value thatis obtained by respectively multiplying predetermined coefficients in amatrix of pixels by density values of pixels surrounding a pixel ofinterest and by summing the multiplication results. In this way,binarized data is converted into multi-value data in response to thedensity values of the pixels in the vicinity of the pixel of interest,and an image having a quality reflecting more the read image is thusreproduced. The smoothed image data is then fed to a γ corrector 254.The γ corrector 254 converts the density data according to an LUT thatcomplies with the characteristics of a printer, and adjusts the outputthereof in accordance with the density value set through the controlpanel 500. The processed image is sent to the printer section 2 to beprinted there.

FIG. 6 shows the standard screen of a liquid-crystal display panel ofthe control panel 500.

The screen is a touch panel, and by touching anywhere in a functionlabel key, that function is executed.

A function key 501 is pressed to use expanded functions. By pressing thefunction key 501, the copying apparatus is set into a variety of modesincluding sequential page copying, both-side printing, multi-pictureprinting, movement, setting of binding margins, outline erasing. When animage mode key 502 is pressed, the copying apparatus goes to settingmodes such as for screening, shadowing, trimming, and masking on acopied image. A user mode key 503 sets user working environments, forinstance, for ON/OFF of a buzzer, ON/OFF of cassette automaticselection, and automatic density adjustment. A zoom mode key 504activates a mode in which the image is zoomed independently in the Xdirection and in the Y direction, or a mode in which a zooming rate iscalculated from the size of the original document and the size of a copysheet.

M1 key 505, M2 key 506, and M3 key 507 are used to call a mode memoryrespectively registered. A register key 508 is pressed to register acurrent copy mode in each of the mode memories.

An option key 509 is used to set optional functions, such as in a filmprojector through which a copying operation is directly performed fromfilms. Also, the option key 509 is used to input settings for personalpreference.

A sorter key 510 is used to input a setting of whether to select betweena mechanical sorter and an electronic sorter, and the mode of the sorterfor sorting or grouping. A size diversity key 511 is pressed to setdocuments of sheet sizes of A4 and A3 together or sheet sizes of B5 andB4 together in the document feeder.

A full-size key 512 is pressed to set copying scale to 100%. A reductionkey 514 and an expansion key 515 are respectively pressed to reduce andexpand the document image. A zoom key 516 sets a zooming rate within 25to 800%, for instance. A paper selection key 513 is pressed to selectcopy sheets. Each time a density key 518 is pressed, the density of thecopied image is increased. Each time a density key 520 is pressed, thedensity of the copied image is decreased. A density indicator 517 shiftsthe indication thereof leftwardly or rightwardly each time the densitykey 518 or 520 is pressed. An A key is an automatic density adjustmentkey to copy a document, such as newspaper, which has dense background.

A HiFi key 521 is used to copy an original, such as a photograph, whichhas a great deal of halftone images. A character enhancement key 522enhances characters in the copying of a text document.

When the function of a certain key is unknown, a guide key 523 ispressed and the description of the key is provided on a screen 530.

A copy key 524 is pressed to perform the copying operation. Press thiskey, and the standard screen shown in FIG. 6 will appear.

A fax key 525 is pressed to transmit a facsimile. A file key 526 ispressed when the user wants to output file data. A printer key 527 ispressed to change the density of the printout or to reference theprintout result of the PDL image from a remote host apparatus.

A form register key 540 stores the image of an original set in the RDFas a form image onto a form area in the hard disk 257.

A form synthesis key 541 selects a plurality of form images stored inthe form area in the hard disk 257, and OR-gates the selected form imageand the image of the original set in the RDF for synthesis, and printsout the ORed images.

FIG. 7 shows a screen of the control panel 500 to select the otherimage-forming apparatus to read, through a network, the image of anoriginal stored in a personal box in a hard disk in the other remoteimage-forming apparatus. When an image-forming apparatus is installedand used for the first time, the manager of users sets, through thecontrol panel 500, the other image-forming apparatuses from which theoriginal document images can be read from the personal boxes.

After pressing a manager key (not shown), the manager enters a passwordusing numeric keys. If the password matches the manager password storedin the memory 216 in the image-forming apparatus, the image-formingapparatus displays a manager screen (not shown). Press a “groupapparatus acquisition” key, and the screen shown in FIG. 7 appears.

An address key 640 is pressed, displaying the key label in reversevideo. An IP address of the other image-forming apparatus on the networkwith which the original document images are exchanged is input using thenumeric keys. For instance, when the IP address of the otherimage-forming apparatus on the network is 150.61.65.9, an OK button 645is pressed after entering these numbers. Communication with the otherimage-forming apparatus starts through the TCP/IP protocol. Theimage-forming apparatus first sends a command to the partnerimage-forming apparatus querying whether the partner is theimage-forming apparatus. If the partner is the image-forming apparatus,the partner image-forming apparatus responds by sending informationincluding the name thereof, the model thereof, the free capacity of ahard disk, and further information of whether copying is now inprogress. Receiving these pieces of information, the image-formingapparatus 1000 determines whether there exists another image-formingapparatus with which data communication is possible. If there existsanother image-forming apparatus, the image-forming apparatus 1000acquires the information about that image-forming apparatus.

The user presses a search area key 641, displaying the key label thereofin reverse video. Using the numeric keys, the user designates the areaof the IP address within which other image-forming apparatuses, withwhich original document images are exchanged, are searched for. Thesearch area key 641 is useful when the IP address of the otherimage-forming apparatus is unknown, when there is a plurality ofimage-forming apparatuses within the IP address range, or when the userwants to select one from the image-forming apparatuses, with which theoriginal document images are exchanged.

A search area start address window 643 is used to designate the IPaddress with which the searching of the other image-forming apparatusesstarts. A search area end address window 644 is used to designate the IPaddress with which the searching of the other image-forming apparatusesends. The searching starts with the start IP address designated by thesearch area start address window 643 and ends with the end IP addressdesignated by the search area end address window 644.

Specifically, when the other image-forming apparatuses with which theoriginal document images are exchanged, ranges from a start IP addressof 150.61.65.000 to an end IP address of 150.61.65.255, these numbersare input through the numeric keys. The OK button 645 is pressed and theimage-forming apparatus 1000 sends a command to query at the IP addressof 150.61.65.000 in the TCP/IP protocol whether the partner is animage-forming apparatus.

When the partner replies or sends no replay for a certain duration oftime, the IP address is incremented to 150.61.65.001, 150.61.65.002, . .. , and reaches the end IP address 150.61.65.255. For each IP address,the respective partner, if an image-forming apparatus, returns to theimage-forming apparatus 1000 a reply about the partner's own name, themodel thereof, the free capacity of the hard disk, and the informationabout whether a copying operation is in progress. The image-formingapparatus 1000 receives these pieces of information, and determineswhether there are other image-forming apparatuses capable of datacommunications, and acquires the information about the otherimage-forming apparatus, if any.

A cancel key 646 is pressed to cancel the search for anotherimage-forming apparatus that is network-linkable.

FIG. 8 shows a destination list shown on the screen of the control panel500, based on a reply to the query placed on the screen shown in FIG. 7,and received from the other image-forming apparatus. With the OK button645 pressed on the screen shown in FIG. 7, the partner sends the replyin the TCP/IP protocol telling that the partner is an image-formingapparatus, and the name and model of the apparatus, and the freecapacity of the hard disk.

A name window 650 displays a name, registered in a RAM by the user, inthe partner image-forming apparatus which is found by designating theaddress on the screen shown in FIG. 7 through communication at theTCP/IP protocol, or by designating the search area of the addresses. Thescreen shown in FIG. 7 indicates that the image-forming apparatus 1000successfully communicates with two copying apparatuses having respectivenames “general affairs section GP” and “sales section 2 GP” as a resultof the searching within the designated search area.

A model window 651 displays the model name of the partner image-formingapparatus registered in the respective ROM. Referring to FIG. 8, theimage-forming apparatus having the name “general affairs section GP” hasthe model name “GP215”, and the image-forming apparatus having the name“sales section 2 GP” has the model name “GP30”.

A hard disk information window 656 indicates the free memory capacity ofthe hard disk of the partner image-forming apparatus. For instance, thehard disk of the image-forming apparatus named “general affairs sectionGP” has a free memory capacity of 80 MB with the OK label, and the harddisk of the image-forming apparatus of the sales section 2 GP has a freememory capacity of 100 MB with the OK label. (If no free memory capacityis available, the label NG is presented).

A downward scroll key 654 is pressed to see the next page for furtherlist of names and models. An upward scroll key 655 is pressed to see theprevious page for the list of the names and models.

A delete key 653 is pressed to select and then delete an image-formingapparatus with which the user does not wish to exchange the originaldocument images (with data communication disabled), from among thelinked image-forming apparatuses (with data communication possible). Forinstance, when the user does not wish to exchange images with thecopying apparatus of the sales section 1 GP, the user touches the lineindicating the apparatus, displaying the line in reverse video, andpresses the delete key 653. The user thus deletes the SALES SECTION 1 GPfrom the list, and deselects the copying apparatus of the sales section1 GP as the apparatus for exchange of the original document images.

An OK key 652 is pressed, thereby permitting to communicate the exchangeof the original document images, the copying apparatuses listed in thedestination list, namely, the sales section 1 GP and the sales section 2GP in FIG. 8. For instance, a user's own digital copying apparatus namedgeneral affairs section GP may attempt to print data stored in thepersonal box in response to a command from the control panel 500, butcannot print because someone else is using the user's own digitalcopying apparatus. In such a case, the control unit in the sales section1 GP or the sales section 2 GP, as the other copying apparatuses, canretrieve the image from the personal box in the hard disk of the generalaffairs section GP currently in use through the network, and the copyingapparatus in the sales section 1 GP or the sales section 2 GP canexecute printing.

The personal box in the first embodiment is discussed, referring to FIG.9.

The hard disk 257 in the image memory 255 is partitioned into atemporary area 600, and a personal box area 601. The temporary area 600temporarily stores the image data for electronic sorting, and erases theimage data at the end of the job. The personal box area 601 stores theimage data, into which the PDL image received from the PC/WS 11 as ahost apparatus is developed by the external interface, in associationwith the personal box number designated by the PC/WS 11. The user laterprints out the image which is developed from the PDL image, and which isstored in the personal box 601 having the user's own personal boxnumber, using the control panel 500.

For instance, a 1 GB hard disk may be partitioned into a temporary areaof 300 MB and a personal box area of 700 MB. When the number of personalboxes is ten, the area of 700 MB is further partitioned into ten 70 MBsubareas.

Each personal box is numbered. For instance, boxes 602, 603, 604, and605 are respectively designated with box numbers 0, 1, 2, and 9. Forinstance, referring to FIG. 9, the box for Tanaka is numbered with 1.When a user called Tanaka wants to enter a PDL document from the PC/WS11 into his or her own box, the user designates the box number 1 on UIin the PC/WS 11, and transmits the image data to the image-formingapparatus 1000.

When the user named Tanaka inputs his or her own PDL document from thePC/WS 11 to someone else's box, for instance, the box of a user namedKato, Tanaka designates the box number on the UI in the PC/WS 11, of thepartner to whom Tanaka wants to send the document, in this case, boxnumber 9. In this way, the user's own PDL document may be mailed tosomeone else's box.

FIG. 10 shows a screen 701 presented on the display unit of the PC/WS 11which prints out document data on an application software program ordesignates a personal box.

The print screen 701 is displayed when a print command is set on a menuof the application software program. A printer model 702 is the modelname of the printer currently in use, and is the model name of thedigital copying apparatus connected via the network in this embodiment.A printing area window 703 is used to enter settings of whether alldocument pages to print or to input into a personal box, and of fromwhat page to what page of the document to print or to input into apersonal box. To designate the document pages all or in part, thecorresponding square marks are checked by clicking a mouse.

A number of copies window 705 is used to enter settings of how manycopies to print, or how many copies to print later in case oftransferring the document data into the personal box. A personal boxwindow 710 is used to input the document data into the personal box inaccordance with the setting on a personal box screen to be discussedlater. To input the document data in the personal box, rather thanprinting the document data, check the corresponding square mark byclicking the mouse. When the square mark is unchecked by clicking themouse, the normal printing is performed.

The personal box setting window 706 designates a personal box number tobe discussed later. A detail button 709 is pressed to go to a screen(not shown) for setting a detailed operation mode for a print job, andenters the setting on the screen, for example, for printing resolution,the size of an original document, and enable/disable of sheet processingmode for stapling. When an OK button 707 is pressed, the setting inputis terminated. The printing now starts or the transfer of the documentinto the personal box with a specified box number starts. A cancelbutton 708 is pressed to cancel the settings for the printing or thepersonal box and to close the print screen 701.

FIG. 11 shows the personal box screen which is opened by pressing thepersonal box setting button 706 on the print screen 701 to print thedocument data on an application software program on the PC/WS 11 or todesignate the personal box.

The personal box screen 720 specifies the personal box number of thehard disk of the electronic sorter in a digital copying apparatus, thedocument data on the application program is stored, and sets the copymode the user later prints the document data on the digital copyingapparatus (i.e., printing settings, such as one-side printing orboth-side printing, sorting process, such as non-sorting, sorting, orgrouping, and size settings, such as the size of the original document,the sheet size of the copy sheet, etc.).

A personal box number window 721 is used to designate 1 as a user's ownbox number, for instance, when a user called Tanaka wants to store thedocument data in his or her own box, as shown in FIG. 11. When the usercalled Tanaka wants to transfer the document data to a user called Kato,Tanaka designates the box number 9, which is the box for Kato. In thiscase, no password input is required as in ordinary electronic mail.

A one-side printing setting window 723 is checked by clicking the mouseto print later the document data stored in the personal box in aone-side printing fashion. A both-side printing setting window 724 ischecked by clicking the mouse to print later the document data stored inthe personal box in a both-side printing fashion.

A non-sorting setting window 725 is checked by clicking the mouse toprint later the document data stored in the personal box in anon-sorting fashion. A sorting setting window 726 is checked by clickingthe mouse to print later the document data stored in the personal box inan electronic sorting fashion. A sorting setting window 727 is checkedby clicking the mouse to print later the document data stored in thepersonal box in a group printing fashion.

A sheet setting window 728 sets the size of the sheets that are used toprint later the document data that is stored in the personal box. Forinstance, clicking a downward looking arrow on the right-hand side bythe mouse, the sheet sizes A4, A5, B4, and the like are successivelydisplayed for selection. A cassette stack selection window 729 is usedto select a copy sheet cassette to print the document data stored in thepersonal box. Clicking a downward looking arrow on the right-hand sideby the mouse, the labels for a top cassette and a bottom cassette aredisplayed for selection. If “AUTO” is selected, the cassette having thecopy sheets complying with the specified sheet size is automaticallyselected.

A detail setting button 732 is used to perform reduction copying such asa 2-in-1 reduction layout (with two original document pages arrangedside by side to be printed onto a single copy sheet) or a 4-in-1reduction layout (with four original document pages arranged to beprinted onto a single copy sheet). An OK button 730 is pressed tovalidate the settings about the personal box when the input of thesettings is complete. Subsequent to the pressing of the OK button 730,the apparatus returns to the print screen 701 shown in FIG. 10. With theOK button 707 pressed, the document on the application software programstarts to be transferred into the designated personal box in the digitalcopying apparatus. A cancel button 731 is used to cancel the settingsabout the personal box, and to return to the print screen 701.

As discussed above, in the first embodiment, the PC selects between thetwo options, namely allowing the image-forming apparatus to immediatelyprint the image data, i.e., the output thereof, or to store in the harddisk in the image-forming apparatus rather than immediately printing theimage data. When the print job is stored in the hard disk of theimage-forming apparatus, the user designates which personal box to storeit in, from among the plurality of the personal boxes of theimage-forming apparatus. In this case, the operation mode of the printsettings of the image data to be stored is designated. The user thusstores desired image data (file) at a desired personal box inassociation with operation mode data designated by the user on the PC(the operation mode data includes a diversity of setting data aboutprint pages, number of copies, one-side printing or both-side printing,sorting, reduction layout, the size of original documents, the sheetsize of copy sheets, etc.).

FIG. 12 shows a main screen 801 of the personal box on the control panel500.

The main screen 801 is the one for the personal box on the control panel500 in the image-forming apparatus 1000, and is opened by pressing a PB(personal box) key (not shown) on the control panel 500. As shown, thereare ten personal boxes numbered from 00 through 09, and the PDL data,from a host apparatus, in a raster image developed by the electronicsorter (i.e., in a bit-map state), is stored in respective personalboxes in the hard disk 257.

On the screen of the control panel 500, each personal box number isnamed, although not really labeled on the actual screen. For instance,the personal box number 01 is tagged with “Box for Tanaka”, andindicates that box is used by Tanaka. A percentage indicator on therightmost of the line of each box indicates the percentage of memoryused by that personal box to the memory capacity of the entire personalbox area in the hard disk. For instance, the box number 01 uses 2% orabout 14 MB, of the personal box area memory capacity of 700 MB in thehard disk.

A button 802 is used to monitor a job (document file) stored in the boxnumber 00. Similarly, buttons 803 and 804 are used to monitor jobsrespectively stored in the box numbers 01 and 02. As shown in FIG. 10and FIG. 11, when Tanaka transfers application document data to his orher own box 01 from a host computer, Tanaka later presses the button 803for the box number 01 on the main screen 801 of the personal box on thecontrol panel 500 to start printing the document.

Scroll keys 806 and 807 are pressed to scroll through the names and usedmemory capacities for the box numbers 00 through 09. A close key 808 ispressed to close the personal box main screen 801 and to return to thestandard screen shown in FIG. 6. A fax status key 809 is pressed tomonitor facsimile transmission and reception status

Designated 805 is an other device key. A host computer transfers PDLdata into a personal box of a copying apparatus, for instance, animage-forming apparatus named “general affairs section GP”. If the userrequests the output of the data from the personal box, the copyingapparatus may be unable to immediately reply to the request (unable toprint out the data). The copying apparatus may be currently used bysomeone else, in trouble, running out of toner, or in memory full state.Under this circumstance, the other device key 805 is a very useful key.By pressing the other device key 805 on the control panel 500 of theother copying apparatus, for instance, the image-forming apparatus named“sales section 1 GP”, the user monitors the content in the personal boxin the image-forming apparatus of the general affair section GPcurrently used by someone else, through the control panel 500 on theimage-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP (in other words, undera circumstance that the request is not immediately honored, even when arequest is made to output data in the personal box controlled by auser's own image-forming apparatus). The user thus retrieves theoriginal document data from the personal box of the general affairssection GP through a data communication line, and prints the originaldocument data on the image-forming apparatus the sales section 1 GP.Subsequent to the pressing of the key 805, the apparatus goes to ascreen shown in FIG. 16, to be discussed later.

It is here assumed that both the general affairs section GP and thegeneral affairs section 1 GP are set up as being mutually connectablefor communication as already discussed with reference to FIG. 7 and FIG.8.

FIG. 13 shows a password input screen 801 on the control panel 500.

The password input screen 816 appears when any button corresponding tothe personal box storing desired print data, from among the box numbers802–804, is pressed on the personal box main screen 801 shown in FIG.12. A password is entered on the main screen 816 shown in FIG. 13 toprint out the document data stored in the personal box selected from theplurality of the personal boxes on the screen shown in FIG. 12 (or FIG.16 as will be discussed later). Using the numeric keys, the passwordcorresponding to the selected personal box is entered on the controlpanel 500. The password is six-digit number, for instance. Any alreadyentered digit is shown in an asterisk, while a digit remaining to beentered is shown in a dot mark so that someone else may not see over theuser's shoulder.

The password requested on screen for monitoring or printing the documentdata in the personal box is managed box by box, and one password isissued for one personal box. The password information is associated withthe respective personal box in the memory in own apparatus, and may bemanaged in a table form, for instance.

Now, a user named Tanaka transfers application document data for storingin the box number 01 from the computer. Tanaka presses the button 803for own box 01 on the main screen 801 on the control panel 500, and thenenters the password on the screen 816 (the password corresponding to thebox number 01), and the printing of the document now starts (as will bediscussed later with reference to FIG. 14).

In this way, the PDL, which may require secrecy, is printed when theuser is personally standing beside the control panel 500. Security ofthe PDL is thus assured. As already discussed, the user may transmit thePDL document created by the user himself or herself to a personal box ofthe other person, who may then print the PDL document entering the otherperson's own password. A mailing system is thus established.

An OK key 812 is pressed to authenticate the password just input. Acancel key 813 is pressed to cancel the input password, and thus toreturn to the main screen 801.

To perform authentication on an owner of the personal box, codes in amagnetic card owned by each individual may be read through a card reader(not shown) in the copying apparatus.

FIG. 14 shows a job display screen 830 for a job stored in one personalbox. The job display screen 830 shown in FIG. 14 is presented inresponse to the password which has been entered on the screen shown inFIG. 13 and corresponds to the box selected on the main screen 801 shownin FIG. 12.

A button 815 is used to monitor the content in the box 01. The jobdisplay screen 830, displaying the job stored in the personal box,appears when the password is authenticated and the OK key 812 is pressedon the screen shown in FIG. 13. For instance, the user named Tanaka, whoowns the box 01 and is the only person who knows the password, entersthe password for authentication, and the job display screen 830 appears.

Windows 823 and 824 show the respective jobs in which the host apparatusinputs the PDL document by designating the personal box numbers. Forinstance, the window 823 shows that the host apparatus input thedocument “A plan” to the personal box at 11:30, March 8. The label“printed” on the rightmost column in the window 823 shows that thedocument has already been printed at least once since the document wasentered into the personal box. Other labels may be displayed, forinstance, “NG” shows that the transfer of a document to a box has beenunsuccessful because of memory full in the hard disk.

A window 824 shows that the host computer (the source of the image data)transferred the document “B materials for conference” to this box 21:14,March 11. The label “to be printed” on the rightmost column on thewindow 824 shows that the document has never been printed since thedocument was input, and that printing is possible. By touching thisline, the line for this job is displayed in reverse video. In this way,the user selects the job to be printed from among the jobs within thepersonal box by touching the corresponding window.

A detailed information key 816 is used to present the detail of the jobshown in reverse video. Press the detailed information key 816, and theapparatus presents the corresponding job information set on anapplication program on the print screen of the host apparatus, forinstance, “copying for three copies, on A4 sized sheets, in a one-sidedprinting fashion”. The user may modify the job information on the jobdisplay screen 830, for instance, modifying the number of copies fromthree to five. The user may also modify the job information on a page bypage basis, for instance, setting page printing range of a plurality ofpages of a document with first page to sixth page for full-size copying,and seventh page to tenth page for 4-in-4 layout copying (as will bedetailed later with reference to FIG. 18).

A print key 817 is used to start printing the print data of the job onthe line shown in reverse video, stored in a raster image. The printdata is printed in accordance with the settings of the print jobdesignated by the user (verified by the detailed information key 816)through the UI shown in FIG. 10 or FIG. 11 of the apparatus, which is asource of the print data, such as the host computer. A delete key 818 ispressed to delete the job on the line displayed in reverse video. Upwardand downward scroll keys 819 and 820 are also arranged to scroll throughthe information when the number of jobs is too many to be displayed inone page of screen. A fax status key 822 is pressed to monitor thestatus of facsimile transmission and reception. A close key 821 ispressed to return to the personal box main screen 801 shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 15 shows a screen of the control panel 500, which appears when theuser presses the other device key 805 on the main screen 801 shown inFIG. 12. In response to the pressing of the other device key 805, a CPU323 searches for other image-forming apparatuses which can exchange datawith the image-forming apparatus 1000 and displays the search results ona list on the screen. The user, who has pressed the other device key805, selects an image-forming apparatus having a personal box storing adesired job, referencing the screen shown in FIG. 15, looks into thepersonal box of the selected apparatus, selects desired originaldocument image data, transfers the original document image data from theimage-forming apparatus selected in FIG. 15 to the user's own apparatus1000 through the network, and prints out the original document imagedata on the user's own apparatus 1000.

Assuming that the user's own apparatus 1000 is an image-formingapparatus of the sales section 1, the other image-forming apparatusesthat communicate with the user's own apparatus 1000 are theimage-forming apparatus of the general affairs section GP and theimage-forming apparatus named “sales section 2 GP” as shown in thescreen in FIG. 15. The search results are thus displayed on the controlpanel 500 of the image-forming apparatus 1000 of the sales section 1.

The user transfers the PDL data from the host apparatus to the personalbox of the general affairs section GP. When the printing of a desiredjob is not possible on the general affairs section GP because it is usedby someone else, the sales section 2 GP may be used. The user monitorsthe personal box in the general affairs section GP from the controlpanel 500 on the sales section 1 GP through the network, and prints outthe desired job, stored in the personal box in the general affairssection GP, on the printer of the sales section 1 GP.

A destination list window 950 displays the destination names the usershave registered in the RAMs of the partner image-forming apparatusesthat are obtained by designating addresses and performing TCP/IPcommunications, or by designating an address search area, on the screenshown in FIG. 7. FIG. 8 shows the result of the search performed by thegeneral affairs section GP, and FIG. 15 shows the result of the searchperformed by the sales section 1 GP, listing the general affairs sectionGP and the sales section 2 GP. FIG. 15 thus shows on screen the generalaffairs section GP and the sales section 2 GP as the destinations.

A model name display window 951 shows the model names registered in theROMs of the respective partner image-forming apparatuses. Referring toFIG. 15, the general affairs section GP has a GP40 copying apparatus,and the sales section 2 GP has a GP30 copying apparatus. A downwardscroll key 954 is pressed to call a next page of lists of names andmodels. An upward scroll key 955 is pressed to show a previous page oflists of names and models.

An OK key 952 is pressed to enter the name of the copying apparatuslisted in the destination table, here the general affairs section GP inFIG. 15, to monitor the content of the personal box thereof through thenetwork. For instance, the user now tries printing the print data storedin the personal box of the digital copying apparatus of the generalaffairs section GP, by a command input through the control panel 500 ofthe general affairs section GP. If the image-forming apparatus iscurrently used by someone else, the user retrieves the image from thepersonal box in the hard disk in the general affairs section GPcurrently being used by someone else, through the network, using thecontrol panel 500 of another image-forming apparatus, i.e., of the salessection 1 GP. The user then prints out the document on the copyingapparatus of the sales section 1 GP.

FIG. 16 shows a display screen 901 presented on the control panel 500 onthe image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP. The displayscreen 901 appears when the user looks into the personal box on anothercopying apparatus through the network by pressing the OK key 952 on thescreen shown in FIG. 15 (on the screen on the control panel 500 of theimage-forming apparatus listing “sales section 1 GP”).

The screen 901 is a main screen which is opened when the OK key 952shown in FIG. 15 is pressed to look into the personal box of anothercopying apparatus, i.e., of the general affairs section GP. The generalaffairs section GP has, in the hard disk, two personal boxes numbered 00and 01, each of which separately stores the PDL data from the hostapparatus in the form of raster image developed through the electronicsorter.

Each personal box has its own name, although not really labeled on theactual screen, on the screen on the control panel 500. For instance, thebox number 00 is tagged with “Box for Kato”, indicating that box is usedby Kato.

A percentage indicator on the rightmost of the line of each boxindicates the percentage of memory used by that personal box to thememory capacity of the entire personal box area in the hard disk. Forinstance, the box number 00 uses 5% or about 35 MB, of the personal boxarea memory capacity of 700 MB in the hard disk.

A button 902 is used to monitor a job stored in the box number 00.Similarly, a button 803 is used to monitor a job stored in the boxnumber 01. As shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, Kato transfers applicationdocument data to his or her own box 00 on the general affairs section GPfrom a host computer, and attempts to print out from the control panel500 on the general affairs section GP. If the copying apparatus is usedby someone else, Kato presses the other device key 805 on the personalbox main screen 801 on the control panel 500 in the sales section 1 GP,which is another copying apparatus. As shown in FIG. 15, Kato thenselects the general affairs section GP and presses the OK key 952, andthen presses the button 902 for his or her own box number 00 on thescreen shown in FIG. 16. The printing now starts.

Scroll key 906 or 907 is pressed to scroll through the information onthe screen. A close key 908 is pressed to return to the personal boxmain screen 801 shown in FIG. 12. A fax status key 909 is pressed tomonitor facsimile transmission and reception status.

After selecting the box, the same operational flow described withreference to FIG. 12, FIG. 13, and FIG. 14 is performed. Specifically, adesired box is selected from among the plurality of boxes (see FIG. 12),a password for the selected box is entered (see FIG. 13), a desiredprint job is selected on the screen (see FIG. 14) which appears inresponse to the input of the valid password, the operation modeincluding the detailed setting of the job is modified as necessary, anda print command is entered. A series of these steps remains unchangedregardless of whether the user prints out a desired job from a personalbox in own apparatus or a personal box in another apparatus. Noparticularly complex operation is required, and the ease of use is thusassured in a user-friendly environment. At the timing of the pressingthe print key 817 on the control panel 500 of the sales section 1 GP,the user retrieves, from the personal box of the general affairs sectionGP, the developed PDL data the host computer transferred to the personalbox in the general affairs section GP, and prints out the developed PDLdata on the printer of the sales section 1 GP.

The monitoring and retrieval operation of data from the personal box inthe other apparatus in accordance with the first embodiment isdiscussed, referring to a flow diagram shown in FIG. 17. Controlprocesses illustrated in this flow diagram and another flow diagram inFIG. 19 are executed by the CPU 323 in the core section 10 in accordancewith programs beforehand stored in the memory 324.

The user transfers PDL data with both-side printing set in the operationmode from the host computer to an image-forming apparatus having aboth-side printing unit of the general affairs section GP, and laterattempts to print out the print data on the image-forming apparatus ofthe general affairs section GP. However, the image-forming apparatus nowhappens to be used by someone else in the general affairs section GP.The user looks into the personal box of the general affairs section GPthrough the network, using the image-forming apparatus of the salessection 1 GP, which is different from the image-forming apparatus of thegeneral affairs section GP. The user retrieves the developed PDL imagedata (stored in the personal box of the general affairs section GP inthe image-processing apparatus) into the image-forming apparatus of thesales section 1 GP through the network, and prints out the developed PDLimage data on the image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP.This series of steps is now discussed using the flow diagram.

It is determined in step S101 whether the user has pressed the otherdevice key 805 on the screen shown in FIG. 12 and provided on thecontrol panel 500 of the image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1GP. When it is determined that the other device key 805 remainsunpressed, the process goes to step S106. When it is determined that theuser has pressed the other device key 805, the process goes to stepS102. It is determined whether there are available other remoteimage-forming apparatuses which can exchange data with the user's ownapparatus (here the image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP),and switches the control panel 500 from the screen shown in FIG. 12 tothe screen shown in FIG. 15 to show the determination result on screen.When the user selects the general affairs section GP as a desiredapparatus and presses the OK key 952 as shown in FIG. 15, the processgoes to step S103. Step S103 is looped until the connection to that GPis established. The communication is performed between the respectivenetwork interfaces 7 of the two image-forming apparatuses through theTCP/IP protocol, for instance.

When the connection is established, the process goes to step S104. Instep S104, the information in the personal box in the otherimage-forming apparatus the user has selected on the screen shown inFIG. 15 in step S102, namely, the content in the personal box in theimage-forming apparatus of the general affairs section GP is displayedas shown in FIG. 16 (with the control panel 500 switching from thescreen shown in FIG. 15 to the screen shown in FIG. 16).

Prior to the execution of the step S104, the image-forming apparatus ofthe sales section 1 GP is selected in step S102, and a request-to-sendcommand is transmitted to image-forming apparatus of the general affairssection GP to acquire the data in the personal box of the generalaffairs section GP in the hard disk in the image-forming apparatus ofthe general affairs section GP with which the connection is established.In this case, for instance, the data includes the information requiredto display the screen shown in FIG. 16, for instance, name data of theboxes owned by the image-forming apparatus and the quantity of data eachpersonal box contains, the information required to display the screenshown in FIG. 14, for instance, of the document of each box, and theinformation required to display the screen shown in FIG. 18, as will bediscussed later, for instance, of detailed operation mode set for eachdocument. Upon receiving the command, the image-forming apparatus of thegeneral affairs section GP reads the data in the personal box of thegeneral affairs section GP in the hard disk 257 and sends the datathrough its own control unit 252, interface 213, interface 322, dataprocessing unit 321, interface 320, and network interface 7, to theimage-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP through the network.The image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP receives, throughthe network, the data about the personal box in the hard disk 257 in theimage-forming apparatus of the general affairs section GP and thentransfers the data to its own network interface 7, interface 320, dataprocessing unit 321, interface 322, interface 213, image processor 211,CPU 214, and control panel 500. Subsequent to the reception of theseries of data, the screen shown in FIG. 16 is presented on the controlpanel 500 of the image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP instep S104.

In step S105, the user selects a desired box on the screen shown in FIG.16 from among the personal boxes owned by the other image-formingapparatus able to exchange data and selected in step S102. When the userpresses the close key 908 on the screen shown in FIG. 16, the personalbox mode is closed.

When the process goes to step S106 without pressing the other device key805 in step S101, the image-forming apparatus of general affairs sectionGP determines whether the user has pressed the close key 808 on thescreen shown in FIG. 12. When it is determined that the user has pressedthe close key 808, the personal box mode is closed. When it isdetermined the close key 808 remains unpressed, the user selects adesired personal box on the screen shown in FIG. 12 from among thepersonal boxes of own apparatus in step S107. When the user presses thebutton 803 on the screen shown in FIG. 12, designating the box forTanaka, for instance, a password input screen is presented as shown inFIG. 13 in step S108. The password for Tanaka (the password for theselected personal box) is requested. In step S109, the password input instep S108 is checked against the password stored in the memory for thepersonal box the user selected, for matching. When the two passwordsfail to match each other, step S108 is repeated. When the two passwordsmatch each other, the process goes to step S110.

The password input screen also appears in step S108 as shown in FIG. 13,and the password for the user (the password for the selected box) isrequested, when the image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 isused, in other words, when the process proceeds to step S105 throughsteps S102, S103, and S104, subsequent to the pressing of the otherdevice key 805 by the user in step S101. The user designates a desiredpersonal box (the box for Sato, for instance) from among the personalboxes of the other image-forming apparatus (here the general affairssection GP) able to exchange data and selected in step 102, using thescreen shown in FIG. 16 on own apparatus (here the sales section 1 GP).In step S109, the password input in step S108 is checked against thepassword for the box the user previously selected. The password is theone for the personal box in the other image-forming apparatus. Thepassword information may be beforehand registered and managed in thememory of own apparatus as discussed above. In an alternative method,the personal box information of the other image-forming apparatusselected in step S102 is acquired through the network to display on thecontrol panel 500 of own apparatus in step S104, and the passwordinformation for the personal boxes owned by the other image-formingapparatus may be acquired together as one piece of the personal boxinformation. When the two passwords fail to match each other, step S108is repeated, else the process continues at step S110.

When the password input on the screen shown in FIG. 13 is valid, theinformation about the content of, i.e., of what file (document) iscontained in, the personal box is listed in a table on the control panel500 as shown in FIG. 14 to prompt the user to select a desired documentin step S110. For instance, when the box for Tanaka, as shown in FIG.12, is selected, the screen shown in FIG. 14 is presented for documentselection. Also, a desired box (the box for Sato, for instance) may beselected from among the personal boxes in the other image-formingapparatuses using the screen shown in FIG. 16, and then a valid passwordcorresponding to the box may be entered on the screen shown in FIG. 13.In this case, as well, the information of the content of, i.e., of whatfile (document) is stored in, a box the user has selected from among thepersonal boxes of the other image-forming apparatus is processed in stepS104, and the user is thus allowed to select a desired document on thetable on the control panel 500 shown in FIG. 14, based on the data aboutthe personal boxes of the other image-forming apparatus, acquiredthrough the network from the other image-forming apparatus. In summary,the display content on the screen shown in FIG. 14 is presented on thecontrol panel 500 regardless of whether a box is selected on the screenshown in FIG. 12 or on the screen shown in FIG. 16.

When the user selects “B materials for conference” on the screen shownin FIG. 14, and it is determined in step S111 that the print key 817 ispressed, the process continues at step S112. It is determined whetherthe printing of the document selected in step S110 is possible in theoperation mode preset in the host computer. If it is determined that theprinting of the document is possible, the process goes to step S113.Now, the host computer sends the image data to the personal box in theimage-forming apparatus of the general affairs section GP in an attemptto set a printing mode available in the general affairs section GP, theboth-side printing mode, for instance, and stores, in the personal box,the image data associated with the both-side printing mode. However,because the image data cannot be printed out on the general affairssection GP, the user looks into the personal box of the general affairssection GP using the image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP,then retrieves the image data therefrom through the network, and printsout the image data on the image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1GP (this series of steps correspond to steps S101 through S105, andsteps S110 and S111). If the image-forming apparatus of the salessection 1 GP has no both-side printing unit (with no both-side printingcapability) or with the both-side printing unit in trouble, the user'sown apparatus thus determines that the document selected in step S110cannot be printed out in accordance with the operation mode set in thehost computer. In this case, the answer to the determination in stepS112 becomes negative, and the process goes to step S114. The user's ownapparatus (the sales section 1) thus automatically modifies settings tothe operation mode that can be carried out on own apparatus. In thiscase, the operation mode predetermined in the host computer for thedocument selected in step S110 may be modified from “both-side printing”to “one-side printing”. The process continues at step S113.

In step S113, the user's own apparatus reads the image data of Bmaterials for conference stored in the personal box in the hard disk257, acquires the image data through the control unit 252, smoothingunit 253, and γ corrector 254, and prints out the image data on theprinter section 2 in accordance with the operation mode set (with theoperation mode automatically modified in step S114 if the process takesstep S114).

It is determined in step S115 whether the close key 821 has beenpressed. When it is determined that the close key 821 remains unpressed,the process loops back to step S110 to repeat document selection. Whenit is determined the close key 821 has been pressed, the process jumpsback to step S106 to return to the box selection screen shown in FIG.12.

In step S113, the user looks into the personal box of the generalaffairs section GP from the control panel 500 of the sales section 1 GPfor printing operation (corresponding to the process from step S101through step S105, and steps S110 and S111). The image-forming apparatusof the sales section 1 GP reads desired image data from the personal boxof the general affairs section GP in the hard disk of the image-formingapparatus of the general affairs section GP and receive the image datathrough the control unit 252, the interface 213, the interface 322, thedata processing unit 321, the interface 320, and the network interface 7in the image-forming apparatus of the general affairs section GP andthen through the network. The image-forming apparatus of the salessection 1 GP thus receives the image data from the image-formingapparatus of the general affairs section GP through its own networkinterface 7, the interface 320, the data processing unit 321, theinterface 322, the interface 213, the image processor 211, and theprinter section 2, thereby printing out the image data on the printersection 2 in accordance with the operation mode automatically modifiedin step S114 (with the operation mode unmodified if the answer to thedetermination in step S112 is affirmative). To print the image datareceived from the external apparatus on the user's own apparatus, thehard disk 257 of the user's own apparatus stores the image data alongtogether with the operation mode (in the temporary area 600, forinstance).

When the printing operation has normally ended in the sales section 1GP, the CPU 214 in the sales section 1 GP detects the end of theprinting operation. The image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1GP communicates with the network interface 7 of the general affairssection GP through its own image processor 211, the interface 213,interface 322, the CPU 323, the interface 320, and the network interface7, thereby notifying the general affairs section GP as the source of theimage data that the printing operation has normally ended. Through theinterface 320, the CPU 323, the interface 322, the interface 213, theimage processor 211, and the control unit 252, the image-formingapparatus of the sales section 1 GP instructs the image memory 255thereof to delete, from the memory of the sales section 1 GP, theoriginal document image data that has already been printed. Through theSCSI controller 256, the image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1GP deletes the original document image data (from the general affairssection GP) already printed in step S113, together with the operationmode data corresponding thereto, from the hard disk 257 in the salessection 1 GP. In this way, leaks of the data is thus prevented, assuringthe security of the data, when the image data stored in the personal boxin one image-forming apparatus is retrieved and is printed on anotherimage-forming apparatus.

The image data, from the general affairs section 1 GP, printed at thesales section 1 GP, is deleted from the sales section 1 GP's own memory,but the image data is held in the personal box of the general affairssection GP. Alternatively, in response to the end of the printing in thesales section 1 GP, the image data, already printed in the sales section1 GP, may also be deleted from the personal box in the general affairssection 1 GP.

Remote control may be performed to the personal box in the otherimage-forming apparatus with which the user's own apparatus exchangesdata, using the control panel 500 of the user's own apparatus. Asdescribed above, the document selected in step S110, stored in thepersonal box in the other image-forming apparatus selected in step S102,is printed on own apparatus using the print key 817 on the screen shownin FIG. 14. Besides such an operation, the following operations are alsopossible. In one operation, using the delete key 818 on the screen shownin FIG. 14, the user's own apparatus sends a delete command to the otherimage-forming apparatus through the network, thereby deleting the imagedata selected on the screen shown in FIG. 14 from the personal box inthe other image-forming apparatus. In another operation, the user's ownapparatus sends, to the other image-forming apparatus through thenetwork, a modification command which is entered on a screen (see FIG.18 to be discussed later) which is called by pressing the detailedinformation key 816 on the screen shown in FIG. 14. The data stored inthe memory of the other image-forming apparatus is rewritten to modifythe operation mode of the document stored in the personal box in theother image-forming apparatus. In any case, without entering the validpassword in the password input screen shown in FIG. 13, the image shownin FIG. 14 will not appear. In the operations in which the user's ownapparatus deletes or modifies the data in the personal box in the otherimage-forming apparatus, the system prevents a third party from gainingunauthorized access to the data.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment of the present invention is now discussed. Since thebasic construction of the second embodiment remains unchanged from thatof the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 through FIG. 16, the discussionthereabout is not repeated here. In the second embodiment, animage-forming apparatus of a “general affairs section GP” is notequipped with a both-side printing unit, while an image-formingapparatus of a “sales section 1 GP” includes a both-side printing unit.

FIG. 18 shows a screen of the control panel 500 with the detailedinformation key 816 pressed on the screen shown in FIG. 14.

Now, the user sets one-side printing on the one-side printing settingwindow 723 of the host computer shown in FIG. 11, and sends the PDL datato the personal box of the general affairs section GP having noboth-side printing unit. Since the general affairs section GP is used bysomeone else, and cannot be now available, the printing operation needsto be performed on the sales section 1 GP having a both-side printingunit.

A detailed information screen 850 displays detailed information of thejob stored in the personal box selected in FIG. 14. A settinginformation display screen 851 displays detailed information of settingsthat are beforehand set on the application print screen on the hostcomputer, for instance displaying a message stating “Copying to A4 sizedsheets, three copies per original, in a one-side printing fashion”.These pieces of information are the ones which have been receivedtogether with the PDL document data to be stored into the personal box.The information on the setting information display screen 851 hereindicates that ten pages of originals are copied to A4 sized sheets atfull-scale, in a one-side printing fashion, with three copies peroriginal with a sorting function used.

A setting modification screen 852 includes a one-side check window 880and a both-side check window 881 which are respectively checked forone-side printing and both-side printing. Since the setting preset inthe host computer is the one-side printing, the one-side check window880 is checked. If the sales section 1 GP, on which the printing is tobe performed, is equipped with the both-side printing unit, theboth-side check window 881 may be pressed for checking the square mark.The printing operation is thus performed in a both-side printing mode.

Non-sort, sort, and group check windows 882, 883, and 884 are pressedfor the respective settings. Referring to FIG. 19, the setting preset inthe host computer is the sort setting, and the sort check window 883 ischecked.

A paper selection key 885 indicates that the sheet size preset in thehost computer is the A4 sheet size. Press a right-hand side downwardlooking arrow, and a menu for other sheet sizes is opened to allow theuser to select other sheet size. A sheet feeder selection key 886 nowindicates that the sheet feeder preset in the host computer is auto.Press a right-hand side downward looking arrow, and a menu for sheetfeeder stack is opened, to allow the user to select a sheet feeder. Anumber-of-copies key 887 now indicates that the number of copies presetin the host computer is three. Press this key, and the number of copieswill be changed to a desired number using the numeric keys. When ownapparatus is provided with additional functions such as a staplingfunction, although not shown, settings for such functions may be inputin the print job.

A cancel key 857 is pressed to cancel a modification introduced on thesetting modification screen 852. A downward scroll key 858 is used todownward scroll through the information on the screen when theinformation is too large to be displayed on the setting modificationscreen 852. An upward scroll key 860 is used to upward scroll throughthe information on the screen. An enter key 860 is pressed to validatethe modification set in the print job. Upon pressing, the screen shownin FIG. 14 appears.

By pressing the print key 817 on the screen shown in FIG. 14, the printjob is carried out in accordance with the settings (in the operationmode) introduced on the screen shown in FIG. 18.

The operation of data monitoring and retrieval of the personal box ofthe other image-forming apparatus in accordance with the secondembodiment is now discussed, referring to FIG. 19. As shown, stepsidentical to those described with reference to FIG. 17 are designed withthe same step numbers.

In the process shown in FIG. 19, the user transfers the PDL data in aone-side printing mode from the host computer to the personal box of thegeneral affairs section GP having no both-side printing unit. Thegeneral affairs section GP happens to be currently used by someone else,and the user monitors the personal box in the general affairs section GPfrom the sales section 1 GP through the network, retrieves the developedPDL image data stored therein, and prints out the image data in aboth-side printing mode on the sales section 1 GP having a both-sideprinting unit.

It is determined in step S101 whether the user has pressed the otherdevice key 805 on the screen provided on the control panel 500 of theimage-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP and shown in FIG. 12.When it is determined that the other device key 805 remains unpressed,the process goes to step S106. When it is determined that the user haspressed the other device key 805, the process goes to step S102. It isthen determined whether there are available other remote image-formingapparatuses which exchange data with own apparatus (here theimage-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP), and switches thecontrol panel 500 from the screen shown in FIG. 12 to the screen shownin FIG. 15 to show the determination result on screen. When the userselects the general affairs section GP as a desired apparatus andpresses the OK key 952 as shown in FIG. 15, the process goes to stepS103. Step S103 is looped until the connection to that GP isestablished. The communication is performed between the respectivenetwork interfaces 7 of the two image-forming apparatuses through theTCP/IP protocol, for instance.

When the connection is established, the process goes to step S104. Instep S104, the information in the personal box in the otherimage-forming apparatus the user has selected on the screen shown inFIG. 15 in step S102, namely, the content in the personal box in theimage-forming apparatus of the general affairs section GP is displayedas shown in FIG. 16 (the control panel 500 switches from the screenshown in FIG. 15 to the screen shown in FIG. 16).

Prior to the execution of the step S104, the image-forming apparatus ofthe sales section 1 GP is selected in step S102, and a request-to-sendcommand is transmitted to image-forming apparatus of the general affairssection GP to acquire the data in the personal box of the generalaffairs section GP in the hard disk in the image-forming apparatus ofthe general affairs section GP with which the connection is established.In this case, for instance, the data includes the information requiredto display the screen shown in FIG. 16, for instance, name data of theboxes owned by the image-forming apparatus, and the quantity of dataeach personal box contains, the information required to display thescreen shown in FIG. 14, for instance, of the document of each box, andthe information required to display the screen shown in FIG. 18, forinstance, of detailed operation mode set for each document. Uponreceiving the command, the image-forming apparatus of the generalaffairs section GP reads the data in the personal box of the generalaffairs section GP in the hard disk 257 and sends the data through itsown control unit 252, the interface 213, the interface 322, the dataprocessing unit 321, the interface 320, and the network interface 7, tothe image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP through thenetwork. The image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP receives,through the network, the data about the personal box in the hard disk257 in the image-forming apparatus of the general affairs section GP andthen transfers the data to its own network interface 7, the interface320, the data processing unit 321, the interface 322, the interface 213,the image processor 211, the CPU 214, and the control panel 500.Subsequent to the reception of series of data, the screen shown in FIG.16 is presented on the control panel 500 of the image-forming apparatusof the sales section 1 GP in step S104.

In step S105, the user selects a desired box on the screen shown in FIG.16 from among the personal boxes owned by the other image-formingapparatus selected in step S102 and able to exchange data. When the userpresses the close key 908 on the screen shown in FIG. 16, the personalbox mode is closed.

When the process goes to step S106 without pressing the other device key805 in step S101, the image-forming apparatus of general affairs sectionGP determines whether the user has pressed the close key 808 on thescreen shown in FIG. 12. When it is determined that the user has pressedthe close key 808, the personal box mode is closed. When it isdetermined the close key 808 remains unpressed, the user selects adesired personal box on the screen shown in FIG. 12 from among thepersonal boxes of own apparatus in step S107. When the user presses thebutton 803 on the screen shown in FIG. 12, designating the box forTanaka, for instance, a password input screen is presented as shown inFIG. 13 in step S108. The password for Tanaka (the password for theselected personal box) is requested. In step S109, the password input instep S108 is checked against the password stored in the memory for thepersonal box the user selected, for matching. When the two passwordsfail to match each other, step S108 is repeated. When the two passwordsmatch each other, the process goes to step S110.

The password input screen also appears in step S108 as shown in FIG. 13,and the password for the user (the password for the selected box) isrequested, when the image-forming apparatus is used, in other words,when the process proceeds to step S105 through steps S102, S103, andS104, subsequent to the pressing of the other device key 805 by the userin step S101. The user designates a desired personal box (the box forSato, for instance) from among the personal boxes of the otherimage-forming apparatus (here the general affairs section GP) able toexchange data and selected in step 102, using the screen shown in FIG.16 on the user's own apparatus (here the sales section 1 GP). In stepS109, the password input in step S108 is checked against the passwordfor the box the user previously selected. The password is the one forthe personal box in the other image-forming apparatus. The passwordinformation may be beforehand registered and managed in the memory ofown apparatus as discussed above. In an alternative method, the personalbox information of the other image-forming apparatus selected in stepS102 is acquired through the network to display on the control panel 500of own apparatus in step S104, and the password information for thepersonal boxes owned by the other image-forming apparatus may beacquired together as one piece of the personal box information. When thetwo passwords fail to match each other, step S108 is repeated, else theprocess continues at step S110.

When the password input on the screen shown in FIG. 13 is valid, theinformation about the content of, i.e., of what file (document) iscontained in, the personal box is listed in a table on the control panel500 as shown in FIG. 14 to prompt the user to select a desired documentin step S110. For instance, when the box for Tanaka, as shown in FIG.12, is selected, the screen shown in FIG. 14 is presented for documentselection. Also, a desired box (the box for Sato, for instance) may beselected from among the personal boxes in the other image-formingapparatuses using the screen shown in FIG. 16, and then a valid passwordcorresponding to the box may be entered on the screen shown in FIG. 13.In this case, as well, the information of the content of, i.e., of whatfile (document) is stored in, a box the user has selected from among thepersonal boxes of the other image-forming apparatus is processed in stepS104, and the user is thus allowed to select a desired document on thetable on the control panel 500 shown in FIG. 14, based on the data aboutthe personal boxes of the other image-forming apparatus, acquiredthrough the network from the other image-forming apparatus. In summary,the display content on the screen shown in FIG. 14 is presented on thecontrol panel 500 regardless of whether a box is selected on the screenshown in FIG. 12 or on the screen shown in FIG. 16.

It is determined in step S116 whether the detailed information key 816shown in FIG. 14 has been pressed. When it is determined that thedetailed information key 816 remains unpressed, the process jumps tostep S111. When it is determined that the detailed information key 816has been pressed, the process goes to step S117. The control panel 500presents the setting modification screen shown in FIG. 18 where theoperation mode preset for the document selected in step S110 in the hostcomputer is verified or modified. On the screen shown in FIG. 18, theuser can thus modify the print mode preset in the host computer, forinstance, the settings “full scale (100%), sheet size A4, one-sideprinting, sorting, and three copies per original” (an additional settingis also possible in the operation mode). As described with reference toFIG. 18, the user modifies the operation mode in step S117, and pressesthe enter key 860 shown FIG. 18, the process goes to step S118. Thescreen shown in FIG. 14 on the control panel 500 is called, and thesettings (in the operation mode) for the document selected in step S110is modified (updated) to the settings (in the operation mode) introducedby the user in step S117. When the user looks into the personal box ofthe general affairs section GP from the sales section 1 GP in step S104,the user modifies the operation mode of the document selected in stepS110 (rewrites the operation mode data stored in the memory of the salessection 1 GP), out of the operation mode information of the personal boxof the general affairs section GP, contained in the data about thepersonal box of the general affairs section GP acquired from the generalaffairs section GP through the network. The process then goes to stepS111.

When it is determined in step S111 that the user has pressed the printkey 817 on the screen shown in FIG. 14, the document selected by theuser in step S110 and stored in the personal box in the hard disk 257,for instance, the image data of B materials for conference, is read, andis printed out on the printer section 2 through the control unit 252,smoothing unit 253, and γ corrector 254. If the setting of the print jobis modified, from the one-side printing mode to the both-side printingmode, for instance, the print job is accordingly performed.

It is determined in step S115 whether the close key 821 is pressed. Whenit is determined that the close key 821 remains unpressed, the processloops back to step S110 to repeat document selection. When it isdetermined the close key 821 is pressed, the process jumps back to stepS106 to return to the box selection screen shown in FIG. 12.

In step S113, the user looks into the personal box of the generalaffairs section GP from the control panel 500 of the sales section 1 GPfor a printing operation on the sales section 1 GP. The image-formingapparatus of the sales section 1 GP reads the image data selected instep S110 from the hard disk 257 that stores the image data (document)of the personal boxes of the general affairs section GP. Theimage-forming apparatus of the sales section 1 GP thus retrieves desiredimage data through the control unit 252, interface 213, interface 322,data processing unit 321, interface 320, network interface 7 in theimage-forming apparatus of the general affairs section GP, and throughthe network, and then through the network interface 7, interface 320,data processing unit 321, interface 322, interface 213, image processor211, and printer section 2 in the image-forming apparatus of the salessection 1 GP. Own apparatus thus once stores the image data inassociation with the corresponding operation mode data in the hard disk257, and prints out the image data in accordance with the modificationintroduced on the screen shown in FIG. 18 in step S118.

When the printing operation has normally ended in the sales section 1GP, the CPU 214 in the sales section 1 GP detects the end of theprinting operation. The image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1GP communicates with the network interface 7 of the general affairssection GP through its own image processor 211, the interface 213, theinterface 322, the CPU 323, the interface 320, and the network interface7, thereby notifying the general affairs section GP as the source of theimage data that the printing operation has normally ended. Through theinterface 320, the CPU 323, the interface 322, the interface 213, theimage processor 211, and the control unit 252, the image-formingapparatus of the sales section 1 GP instructs the image memory 255thereof to delete, from the memory of the sales section 1 GP, theoriginal document image data that has already been printed. Through theSCSI controller 256, the image-forming apparatus of the sales section 1GP deletes the original document image data (from the general affairssection GP) already printed in step S113, together with the operationmode data corresponding thereto, from the hard disk 257 in the salessection 1 GP. In this way, leaks of the data is prevented, assuring thesecurity of the data, when the image data stored in the personal box inone image-forming apparatus is retrieved and is printed on anotherimage-forming apparatus.

A storage medium storing software program codes for performing thefunctions of the first and second embodiments (in particular, the flowdiagrams illustrated in FIG. 17 and FIG. 19, and program codes fordisplay control and process for presenting the screens shown in FIG. 12through FIG. 16 and FIG. 18) is supplied to a system or an apparatus.The computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus reads the programcodes stored in the storage medium to execute the program. The objectsof the present invention are thus achieved.

The program codes read from the storage medium perform the functions ofthe above-referenced embodiments, and the storage medium storing theprogram code constitutes the present invention.

Available as storage media for feeding the program code are floppy disk,hard disk, optical disk, magnetooptical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetictape, non-volatile memory card, ROM, and the like.

By executing the program code read by the computer, the functions of theembodiments are performed. Furthermore, the OS (Operating System)running on the computer performs partly or entirely an actual processaccording to the instruction of the program code, and the functions ofthe embodiments are thus performed.

The program codes read from the storage medium are written on a functionexpansion board inserted into the computer or a memory provided on anfunction expansion unit connected to the computer. A CPU on theexpansion board or function expansion unit partly or entirely performsthe process. The functions of the embodiments are thus performed. Such asystem also falls within the scope of the present invention.

The above-referenced embodiments employ an electrophotographic methodusing a laser beam on the printing mechanism thereof. However, thepresent invention is not limited to the electrophotographic method.Other printing methods, such as LED printer, thermal transfer printer,ink-jet printer, may be employed.

As described above, in each of the above-referenced embodiments, theuser transfers the PDL print job to the personal box of a digitalcopying apparatus and prints out the developed PDL original documentimage stored in the personal box on the control panel of the digitalcopying apparatus. Even when the digital copying apparatus happens to beused by someone else, the user retrieves the original document imagedata in the personal box from the digital copying apparatus currently inuse through another digital copying apparatus which is able tocommunicate with the first digital apparatus, and prints out theoriginal document image on thereon. When the digital copying apparatusthe user accesses for printing runs out of toner, copy sheets, or withthe printer thereof in trouble, the user retrieves the original documentimage data for printing from the personal box in the digital copyingapparatus currently in trouble, through another digital copyingapparatus which is able to communicate with the first digital copyingapparatus.

With this arrangement, the user does not need to wait for until someoneelse finishes the job on the digital copying apparatus or until thedigital copying apparatus is restored for normal operation. Theavailability of the apparatus is thus increased.

The PDL job in the both-side printing mode input to the personal box isretrieved from the personal box for printing in the other digitalcopying apparatus. When the other digital copying apparatus has noboth-side printing unit or in trouble, the printing mode isautomatically switched to the one-side printing mode. This arrangementassures the ease of use, eliminating the need for complex operationresponsive to the status of the digital copying apparatus performing theprinting operation.

After the original document image data is retrieved from the otherdigital copying apparatus and is printed, the original document imagedata in the personal box in the other digital copying apparatus isautomatically deleted. This arrangement frees the user from waitinguntil someone else finishes the job on the digital copying apparatus.The availability of the digital copying apparatus is increased, and theease of use is assured.

Now, the PDL job input to the personal box by the user is in theone-side printing mode, and one digital copying apparatus has noboth-side printing unit. When the original document image data isretrieved from the personal box in the other digital copying apparatusfor printing on the other digital copying apparatus, the printing modeis switched to the both-side printing mode when the other digitalcopying apparatus has a both-side printing unit. The functions of theapparatuses are sufficiently utilized.

While the present invention has been described with reference to whatare presently considered to be the preferred embodiments, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims. The scope of the following claims is to beaccorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all suchmodifications and equivalent structures and functions.

1. A system constituted so that a first data processing apparatus cancommunicate with a second data processing apparatus which can performprinting of document data, said system comprising: a capture controlleradapted to cause said first data processing apparatus to captureinformation concerning a plurality of document data stored in a memoryunit of said second data processing apparatus which includes an outputcontroller adapted to allow said second data processing apparatus toprint document data in said memory unit after specified authenticationdata is input in response to a user operation in said second dataprocessing apparatus; a display controller adapted to cause said firstdata processing apparatus to display a screen which can be used by auser of said first data processing apparatus in selecting one of saidplurality of document data stored in said memory unit of said seconddata processing apparatus by the user of said first data processingapparatus by using the information concerning said plurality of documentdata, after the information is captured by said first data processingapparatus; an input unit adapted to input an instruction for selectingone of said plurality of document data stored in said memory unit ofsaid second data processing apparatus by the user of said first dataprocessing apparatus by using the screen in said first data processingapparatus; and a controller adapted to cause said second data processingapparatus to execute a processing concerning selected document data inresponse to the instruction, after input of specified authenticationdata corresponding to said specified authentication data which is inputin said second data processing apparatus is performed in response to auser operation in said first data processing apparatus.
 2. A systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the information is transmitted from saidsecond data processing apparatus to said first data processing apparatusin response to a user request, for capturing the information from saidsecond data processing apparatus, which is transmitted from said firstdata processing apparatus to said second data processing apparatus.
 3. Asystem according to claim 1, wherein the processing concerning theselected document data is to perform printing of the selected documentdata.
 4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the processingconcerning the selected document data is to delete the selected documentdata from said memory unit of said second data processing apparatus. 5.A system according to claim 1, wherein the processing concerning theselected document data is to read out the selected document data fromsaid memory unit of said second data processing apparatus and to outputthe data via a network.
 6. A system according to claim 1, wherein theprocessing concerning the selected document data is to transfer theselected document data from said second data processing apparatus tosaid first data processing apparatus.
 7. A system according to claim 1,wherein the contents of a display of the screen includes timeinformation and document names of the plurality of document data.
 8. Asystem according to claim 1, wherein said display controller causes saidfirst data processing apparatus to display the screen which isdistinguished by each of a plurality of users registered as users ofsaid data processing apparatus.
 9. A system according to claim 1,wherein said display controller causes said first data processingapparatus to display the screen after a password is inputted by anoperator at said first data processing apparatus.
 10. A system accordingto claim 1, wherein said memory unit of said second data processingapparatus can store a plurality of document data using a plurality ofdata storage boxes which are provided to a respective plurality ofusers, and wherein said display controller causes said first dataprocessing apparatus to display a box selection screen for selecting oneof the plurality of data storage boxes, and then to display the screenfor the box selected from the plurality of data storage boxes at the boxselection screen.
 11. A system according to claim 1, wherein the screenis displayed on a touch panel type display screen.
 12. A systemaccording to claim 1, wherein said first data processing apparatus is adevice which can perform printing of the selected document data.
 13. Acontrolling method for a system constituted so that a first dataprocessing apparatus can communicate with a second data processingapparatus which can perform printing of document data, said methodcomprising the steps of: causing said first data processing apparatus tocapture information concerning a plurality of document data stored in amemory unit of said second data processing apparatus which includes anoutput controller adapted to allow said second data processing apparatusto print document data in said memory unit after specifiedauthentication data is input in response to a user operation in saidsecond data processing apparatus; causing said first data processingapparatus to display a screen which can be used by a user of said firstdata processing apparatus in selecting one of said plurality of documentdata stored in said memory unit of said second data processing apparatusby the user of said first data processing apparatus by using theinformation concerning said plurality of document data, after theinformation is captured by said first data processing apparatus;inputting an instruction for selecting one of said plurality of documentdata stored in said memory unit of said second data processing apparatusby the user of said first data processing apparatus by using the screenin said first data processing apparatus; and causing said second dataprocessing apparatus to execute a processing concerning selecteddocument data in response to the instruction, after input of specifiedauthentication data corresponding to said specified authentication datawhich is input in said second data processing apparatus is performed inresponse to a user operation in said first data processing apparatus.14. A controlling method according to claim 13, wherein the informationis transmitted from the second data processing apparatus to the firstdata processing apparatus in response to a user request, for capturingthe information from the second data processing apparatus, which istransmitted from the first data processing apparatus to the second dataprocessing apparatus.
 15. A controlling method according to claim 13,wherein the processing concerning the selected document data is toperform printing of the selected document data.
 16. A controlling methodaccording to claim 13, wherein the processing concerning the selecteddocument data is to delete the selected document data from the memoryunit of the second data processing apparatus.
 17. A controlling methodaccording to claim 13, wherein the processing concerning the selecteddocument data is to read out the selected document data from the memoryunit of the second data processing apparatus and to output the data viaa network.
 18. A controlling method according to claim 13, wherein theprocessing concerning the selected document data is to transfer theselected document data from the second data processing apparatus to thefirst data processing apparatus.
 19. A controlling method according toclaim 13, wherein the contents of a display of the screen includes timeinformation and document names of the plurality of document data.
 20. Acontrolling method according to claim 13, wherein the screen isdistinguished by each of a plurality of users registered as users of thesecond data processing apparatus and displayed by the first dataprocessing apparatus.
 21. A controlling method according to claim 13,wherein the screen is displayed by the first data processing apparatusafter a password is inputted by an operator in the first data processingapparatus.
 22. A controlling method according to claim 13, wherein thememory unit of the second data processing apparatus can store aplurality of document data using a plurality of data storage boxes whichare provided to a respective plurality of users, and wherein the screenfor a box selected from the plurality of data storage boxes at a boxselection screen is displayed by the first data processing apparatus,after the box selection screen for selecting one of the plurality ofdata storage boxes was displayed by the first data processing apparatus.23. A controlling method according to claim 13, wherein the screen isdisplayed on a touch panel type display screen.
 24. A controlling methodaccording to claim 13, wherein the first data processing apparatus is adevice which can perform printing of the selected document data.
 25. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 13. 26. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 14. 27. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 15. 28. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 16. 29. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 17. 30. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 18. 31. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 19. 32. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 20. 33. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 21. 34. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 22. 35. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 23. 36. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a software program foreffecting a controlling method according to claim
 24. 37. A systemconstituted so that a second data processing apparatus which can performprinting of document data can communicate with a first data processingapparatus, said system comprising: a transmit unit adapted to transmit,from said second data processing apparatus to said first data processingapparatus, information concerning a plurality of document data stored ina memory unit of said second data processing apparatus which includes anoutput controller adapted to allow said second data processing apparatusto print document data in said memory unit after specifiedauthentication data is input in response to a user operation in saidsecond data processing apparatus; a receive unit adapted to receive bysaid second data processing apparatus an instruction which is input byusing a screen which can be used by a user of said first data processingapparatus in selecting one of said plurality of document data stored insaid memory unit of said second data processing apparatus by the user ofsaid first data processing apparatus and which is displayed by saidfirst data processing apparatus by using the information after theinformation is captured by said first data processing apparatus; and acontroller adapted to cause said second data processing apparatus toexecute a processing concerning selected document data of said pluralityof document data in response to the instruction, after input ofspecified authentication data corresponding to said specifiedauthentication data which is input in said second data processingapparatus is performed in response to a user operation in said firstdata processing apparatus.
 38. A system according to claim 37, whereinthe information is transmitted from said second data processingapparatus to said first data processing apparatus in response to a userrequest, for capturing the information from said second data processingapparatus, which is transmitted from said first data processingapparatus to said second data processing apparatus.
 39. A systemaccording to claim 37, wherein the processing concerning the selecteddocument data is to perform printing of the selected document data. 40.A system according to claim 37, wherein the processing concerning theselected document data is to delete the selected document data from saidmemory unit of said second data processing apparatus.
 41. A systemaccording to claim 37, wherein the processing concerning the selecteddocument data is to read out the selected document data from said memoryunit of said second data processing apparatus and to output the data viaa network.
 42. A system according to claim 37, wherein the processingconcerning the selected document data is to transfer the selecteddocument data from said second data processing apparatus to said firstdata processing apparatus.
 43. A system according to claim 37, whereinthe contents of a display of the screen includes time information anddocument names of the plurality of document data.
 44. A system accordingto claim 37, wherein said first data processing apparatus displays thescreen which is distinguished by each of a plurality of users registeredas users of said data processing apparatus.
 45. A system according toclaim 37, wherein said first data processing apparatus displays thescreen after a password is inputted by an operator at said first dataprocessing apparatus.
 46. A system according to claim 37, wherein saidmemory unit of said second data processing apparatus can store aplurality of document data using a plurality of data storage boxes whichare provided to a respective plurality of users, and wherein said firstdata processing apparatus displays a box selection screen for selectingone of the plurality of data storage boxes, and then displays the screenfor the box selected from the plurality of data storage boxes at the boxselection screen.
 47. A system according to claim 37, wherein the screenis displayed on a touch panel type display screen.